Spear of Longinus
The Spear of Longinus'The Spear is named after the ''Lancea Longini (a.k.a "Lance of Longinus", "Spear of Destiny", "Holy Lance", etc.) a weapon that, according to Christian tradition, was used by the Roman soldier Longinus to stab Jesus Christ in the side to confirm his death at his crucifixion. Bearing the blood of the Son of God was said to, consequently, bestow the spear with supernatural properties, making it a much-sought-after artifact (in a manner similar to the Holy Grail). Over the centuries there have been many reports of the Holy Lance being rediscovered, buried in the Earth, most notably when the Lance was supposedly discovered during the Siege of Antioch in the First Crusade, becoming a rallying point for the besieged Crusaders and leading them to miraculously break the siege against all odds ("Holy-Lance" on Encyclopedia Britannica Online). In Japanese, the Spear is called "Longinus no Yari", with "yari" being translatable as either "lance" or "spear". The translation "Lance of Longinus" is utilized by ADV and Manga Entertainment's localizations and is, resultantly, in prominent use by the English-speaking fan community. However, a computer display in 25’ (see image) indicates that the official English rendition is, in fact, "'''Spear of Longinus". (ロンギヌスの槍, "Ronginusu no Yari") is an extraterrestrial artifact with the power to penetrate any A.T. Field and immobilize beings of god-like power. Properties Physically, the Lance of Longinus resembles a long, red bident on an Evangelion scale. Its structure is inherently double-helical (in its normal configuration), with the majority of its length being straight and composed of two strands which are tightly interwoven. At one end, the two strands unwind and form two massive tines. While the bident is the Lance's default shape, it also has metamorphic capabilities. When thrown at the Angel Arael (22), the tines wrap together to form a seamless piercing object. Upon encountering Arael's A.T. Field, the "flaps" of the Lance open up, revealing white, gill-like structures that seem to aid the Lance with self-propulsion under conditions of extreme resistance. Finally, the Lance's bident shape is perpetually altered by Unit-01 in Episode 26' when she separates the two helices, and the Lance takes on a form reminiscent of a horizontally elongated infinity symbol, ∞. The Lance may be considered to be a weapon of "god-like" power. N² weapons have enough destructive potential to bring minor to moderate amounts of damage upon some of the weaker Angels; and Evas can use armaments against Angels after nullifying the Angels' A.T. Fields with their own. However, the Lance of Longinus is capable of piercing the active, unneutralized A.T. Field of any Angel or Evangelion, entirely by itself. The Lance is not of Terran origin, having been created by the First Ancestral Race, an ancient extraterrestrial humanoid species. The one seen in the show is also not the only Lance of Longinus created: Every Seed of Life, including both Adam and Lilith, was sent with a counterpart Lance, meaning seven in all.Neon Genesis Evangelions: Another Cases. Kaworu's Scenario, "Good End". At least one established function of the Lances is that of a "security device" capable of safeguarding the First Ancestral Race's plans should they somehow be compromised. Lances of Longinus are technically alive and are even said to have wills of their own. The Lance featured in Evangelion belonged to Adam, whereas Lilith's is believed to have been lost or destroyed during First Impact. Before 2015 First Impact Adam, contained within the White Moon, was the first Seed to land on Earth, at least 4 billion years ago. Before Adam-based life could be established, Lilith crash-landed on Earth within the Black Moon, the collision causing the event now known as the First Impact and apparently destroying Lilith's Lance in the process. Due to an unspecified law in the First Ancestral Race's plan, two Seeds are not meant to co-exist on the same planet, and it is strongly implied that Adam's Lance—as the only one remaining on Earth—took the initiative to subdue its own counterpart Seed. Adam remained in suspended animation for billions of years while Lilith-based life was allowed to develop and prosper. Second Impact In the year 2000, the Katsuragi Expedition unearthed Adam and the Lance in the Antarctic. The Lance was removed, briefly relocated to the Dead Sea region, and then shipped back to the South Pole in preparation for the Contact Experiment. After the experiment led to unforeseen consequences, the team attempted to wield the Lance against Adam to "reseal" it, but they failed. In classified video footage of the incident, scientists can be heard shouting off-screen that the Lance needs to be 'pulled back', and that it's "sinking in".Neon Genesis Evangelion. Episode 21'. Second Impact could not be averted, and, ultimately, the Lance appears to be responsible for causing Adam's retroversion to an embryonic state.Evangelion Chronicle. 2015 The Lance first appears in the series in Episode 12 under wraps as it is transported from the Antarctic to NERV on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier.It is unclear why the Spear was still in Antarctica 15 years after Second Impact rather than being secured by NERV or SEELE years earlier. It reappears at the end of Episode 14 as Rei is ordered by Gendo Ikari to go into Terminal Dogma to insert it into Lilith, the result of which is seen in Episode 15. It remains there until the battle with Arael, upon which Rei once again descends to collect it from Lilith in order to destroy Arael, which was floating in outer space high above Earth's atmosphere.Neon Genesis Evangelion. Episode 22. Rei uses Evangelion Unit-00 to hurl the Lance of Longinus like a javelin into Earth orbit, and kill the Angel. The Lance exceeds escape velocity, and is lost from Earth's orbit, becoming trapped in lunar orbit, and eventually landing on the Moon. After being thrown at Arael by Unit-00, the Lance of Longinus issues a sound very similar to an Evangelion's roar. Third Impact It finally returns in Episode 26' after reacting to the awakened and freed Evangelion Unit-01. It proceeds to become an important tool for the Human Instrumentality Project and merges with the Eva, creating the Tree of Life. However, after Shinji Ikari rejects the process, the Lance is regurgitated, destroys the copies used by the Mass Production Evangelions and leaves Earth accompanied by Unit-01. Replica Lances of Longinus SEELE is able to create nine copies of the Lance of Longinus for use by their Mass Production Model Evangelions. The copies have most of the original's properties, such as its size and dimensions, along with its ability to pierce A.T. Fields, although they are bluish grey in color rather than red. Also unlike the original, they cannot be used to initiate Instrumentality with Lilith herself. Even after the original Lance was lost, SEELE felt they still had a chance, albeit more difficult, of initiating Third Impact, by using the replica Lances and Unit-01 (itself created from Lilith), though it is possible that even SEELE wasn't entirely sure if this would be sufficient (this remains unknown as the original Lance then returned to Earth). The metamorphic capabilities observed in the replicas exceed that of the original: When the Eva Series are first sortied in Episode 25', their Lances are initially disguised as massive, double-edged blades that bear no resemblance to their native forms. The weapons' true nature is revealed when one comes in contact with Unit-02's A.T. Field and, within seconds, responds by morphing instantaneously into its Lance shape. When the Lance copies are destroyed, they initially bubble up into LCL-colored masses with little lower bodies projecting out of them (as per Lilith on the cross). According to the storyboards, this substance actually is LCL. Officially, the "double-edged blade" variation of the Lance copies goes by two different names. The script refers to them as 重い槍 (omoi yari), or "Heavy Lance". However, this term is rarely observed elsewhere, and 大剣 (ooken), or "Giant Sword", is seen in its stead. In other media ''CR Neon Genesis Evangelion'' In the pachinko games Shito, Futatabi and Saigo no Shisha, the Lance of Longinus can be used by Kaworu in Unit-04 to dispatch of Angels under certain conditions. ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' While not yet confirmed to be officially called "Lance of Longinus", both identical- and similar-looking weapons appear in the Rebuild continuity. In Evangelion: 1.0, Lilith is impaled on an object identical in appearance to NGE's Lance of Longinus. In Evangelion: 2.0, four Lances of Longinus-like objectsThe script refers to them only as yari (spear/lance). are present at Second Impact. The one impaling Lilith may be one of these. The weapon wielded by Unit-05 is referred to as "Anti-Angel Extermination Weapon Lance of Longinus Basic Type (Pseudo-Restoration)", so while not a Lance in form, does seem connected to the other itterations of this weapon. In Evangelion: 3.0, Kaworu and Shinji head into Terminal Dogma in order to retrieve both the Lance of Longinus and the Lance of Cassius. Kaworu realized however that there were two versions of the Lance of Longinus in Lilith's corpse. Shinji pulling them out with Evangelion 13 causes Lilith's body to explode and are both held firmly by Unit 13 as it begins Fourth Impact. Kaworu attempts to stop Fourth Impact by impaling both Lances into Evangelion 13 just before his death. Trivia * To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the franchise, a crowd-funded project aiming to send a mini replica of the Lance to the moon was started in 2015. Notes and references de:Lanze des Longinus ru:Копьё Лонгиния Category:Religious and Esoteric References Category:Terminology Category:Weapons